Development of Renewable Energy in China, USA, and Brazil: A Comparative Study on Renewable Energy Policies

Countries differ in terms of their socio-economic development, population growth, and energy consumption. Many countries still depend on conventional energy to supply enough energy source for their demand, while some have made considerable progress in making the transition to renewable/sustainable e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2020-11, Vol.12 (21), p.9136
Main Authors: Muhammed, Gaafar, Tekbiyik-Ersoy, Neyre
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Comparative analysis
Comparative studies
Econometrics
Economic development
Electricity generation
Emissions
Energy consumption
Energy policy
Energy resources
Energy sources
Incentives
Literature reviews
Monetary incentives
Natural gas prices
Population growth
Regression analysis
Renewable resources
Sustainability
Wind
Wind power
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Summary:Countries differ in terms of their socio-economic development, population growth, and energy consumption. Many countries still depend on conventional energy to supply enough energy source for their demand, while some have made considerable progress in making the transition to renewable/sustainable energy sources. Owing to the increasing demand and drawbacks of conventional energy sources, policies can play a major role in encouraging and increasing the uptake of renewable energy (RE) technologies. In this paper, a general overview on the RE activities in the three leading countries—China, Brazil, and the United States of America (USA)—is presented. Moreover, a comparative analysis on the implementations of the RE support policies is conducted. The linear regression analysis technique is applied to develop several models for the three countries in order to investigate the effect of different policies on RE. The main contributions of this study are establishing a link between RE support policies and RE development (in terms of the installed capacity) in the three countries under study, and providing models that can be used in estimating RE development using RE policy data. In addition to this, some models are developed to investigate the relationship between RE installed capacity and the patents. The linear regression analyses suggest that RE policies promote the development of RE installed capacity in the three countries in different proportions. For example, it is found that each additional wind policy will increase the RE wind capacity in China, Brazil, and the USA by 1.63, 0.689, and 1.576 GW, respectively. Moreover, the economic instruments turn out to be more effective in promoting the RE installed capacity in the USA and Brazil, while the policy support and regulatory instruments are the most influential policy categories in China. Furthermore, the linear regression analyses indicate the existence of a positive significant relation between the number of patents and the total RE installed capacity in the three countries.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su12219136